Did Austerity Cause Brexit?

Thiemo Fetzer. 2019. “Did Austerity Cause Brexit?” American Economic Review 109 (11): 3849-86.
[Copyright American Economic Association; reproduced with permission of the American Economic Review]

Check the author’s website for the posted paper:

The Brexit referendum in June 2016 marked an end to 70 years of economic and political integration across Europe. What led to this moment? Why was there so much pressure within the UK to hold an EU referendum, and why did so many voters choose Leave? This paper studies the role of one potentially important factor: the UK government’s austerity measures and the subsequent shrinking of the welfare state.

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[opler]

No..Brexit was caused by the belief that governments should do what the people tell them. Not the other way round. None of the parties represented Britain accurately for decades. Another tier of even more remote and unaccountable governance...that we could NEVER vote out was deemed `beyond the pale`.
The British electorate kicked the entire system into air, new alliances have been formed that better reflect the populations of the country. Our law makers, who we can fire when they screw up, not anointed administrators who`s names we don`t even know.